Rising Sun by Najee Najee

The World of Najee a Jazz Review

By Eddie Fonseca

The streets of New York are filled with energy and soul because life is quick in the Big Apple, on a crisp evening night you will hear the jazz players playing their saxophones in the night air for people to stop and stare at them while walking on the streets. On a particular cool night a familiar sound will be playing on the smooth jazz radio stations, the works of Najee when they play different tracks from his newly released CD called Rising Sun which will have you snapping your fingers and dancing to the groove of his latest CD. How does Najee stay current with the jazz world without beginning to fade away from his audiences? The name Najee which means "friend of a god" to his music listeners he wants you to experience what he feels for the music, when it is played from his saxophone or flute, so it feels like heavenly music being played by his Latin infusion R&B grooves that will ease your fears about jazz music and set the mood for a pleasant relaxing session with jazz music. Being refreshing to an audience for many years is a challenge which Najee proves he can handle by his success of his two Grammy Awards in the year 1988 and his frequent air time that contributed to him being a legend and a household name in the contemporary jazz category. So what’s Najee’s success over the years? It’s due to his ability to keep in touch with modern day vibes and combine them to create music that can be accepted by both older generations and younger people, who are tuning into his music for the first time to get a sense about how he jives with his audiences's during a stage performance or by his songs getting air time on the jazz radio stations across America and the world stage. Success to Najee is not how many albums he puts out during the years, but if a regular person can walk up to him after a show and say to him the music has inspired me to be more creative in my life. That means the entire world to Najee that his music was so powerful it inspires people, life is quick and Najee will take you on a rollercoaster of his world. The only thing he asks from us in life that we open our minds to listen and respect better jazz music out there, because one day Najee will not be there forever. So which one of us will take his place to live out his dreams to create better jazz music for years to follow?